Op-Ed: Still Standing

Almost 70 years ago the Providence Preservation Society (PPS) was organized to salvage historic College Hill architecture and reclaim 40 houses in the Benefit Street area for private residential use. They helped establish guidelines to meet national standards for historic homes and created a Marker Program to encourage homeowners to meet these standards. Homes with these markers had a cache that added a perceived value to homes. Though primarily an East Side-based organization, they encouraged and rewarded participation all over the city.

While this program still exists, PPS has expanded its focus to include properties that reflect the “values and memories” of established communities in Providence. Their annual List of Endangered properties has showcased properties that have historic value and should be preserved. While there have been some successes, many properties have been lost and they have several perennial placeholders.

Most recently, PPS targeted the area around Providence College (PC), specifically the Elmhurst and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods where they have determined that many properties are in the hands of a few developers who are slowly deconstructing much of the old area. Ironically, the PC campus covers 105 acres of these neighborhoods, while Brown covers only 76 acres of College Hill!

The Cranston Street Armory is a priority for PPS. Situated at Dexter and Parade Streets on 10 acres, the massive four-and-a-half-story yellow brick Medieval Gothic armory covers 165,000 square feet with the remaining land being a large city park. In 1997, it made the National Trust for Historic Preservation List of America’s 11 most endangered properties.

Since the National Guard left in 1997, the building has been used for a variety of events and was featured in films, Outside Providence and Underdog. Essentially abandoned, the state has continued to fund its maintenance, which runs around $500,000 a year, while they search for a new tenant. A study in 2016 projected the cost to redevelop the Armory at $100 million.

On her way to Washington D.C., then-Governor Raimondo signed a deal with a creative developer who planned to repurpose the Armory similar to a project that they had done in Philadelphia. Governor McKee then sent two of his top people to close the deal, but they were more interested in collecting swag from the developer than completing the transaction and made inappropriate sexist comments to complete the mess. This was followed up by a highly controversial lunch with McKee, his campaign lobbyist, and the developers at the Capital Grille.

The $61 million deal was projected to generate $50.4 million in expected benefits and included soon-to-be expiring federal funds that were the key to the project. The state hired a consultant to evaluate the viability of the project and noted that the developer used “many assumptions that are not aligned with market norms” and “was taking on limited risks” while charging high fees.

Subsequently, the governor promised to transfer the property to the city, which still hasn’t happened. PPS used its annual meeting to highlight the Cranston Street Armory project by featuring one of the organizations involved in the 30-year fight to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx. Their plan grew out of years of frustration among community leaders and residents who were sidelined in previous plans for the armory. The Knightsbridge Armory is three and a half times larger than the Cranston Street Armory and is expected to cost over $1 billion! But there were some takeaways that could help guide the local project.

The priority is getting the state to complete the promised transfer to the city. Because of the size and scale, it is ideal for a multi-use project including housing, retail, commercial, and entertainment, which should have some appeal to a private developer.

PPS is advocating for community forums with stakeholders, neighborhood residents, organizations, unions, the education community, and the tech community to figure out what would help the neighborhood while being economically viable for a developer. Kudos to PPS for protecting our heritage, while looking at the city with an open vision.